


Perfect Match

by sweetflips



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But not PORN porn, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Gamer AU - Freeform, Identity Porn, Meet Ugly? you decide which, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 09:29:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11964579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetflips/pseuds/sweetflips
Summary: Between her duties as Student Council President, looking after transfer student Nozomi Toujou like Principal Minami told her to, and hiding her embarrassing secret - she's a hardcore Love Liver, and the top-ranked SIF player in Japan - Ayase Eli has enough on her plate without this strange new SIF player constantly taunting and teasing her. Not to mention threatening to take her spot as #1 as well.What kind of nickname is "Washiwashi", anyway?--AU were Eli is secretly a hardcore LLSIF player and Nozomi is lowkey a troll.





	Perfect Match

**Author's Note:**

> heya! some things u should know about this AU: 
> 
> nozomi transfers in as a 3rd year!
> 
> muse doesnt exist...for now ;) 
> 
> all of the sunshine girls are fictional anime/mobile game characters in this universe, and the only group in LLSIF!
> 
> ok that aside...please enjoy! 
> 
> there might be several mistakes because i wrote this in one sitting after drinking 2 iced coffees but yeah

It was an embarrassing secret.

If anybody knew that Eli Ayase, the new student council president, was a Love Liver, her reputation would be in tatters. The image of the cool, professional senpai she had spent years crafting would be shattered. No one would ever take her seriously again. Not an excellent predicament for the president to be in.

And beyond even that, what would they think if they knew she landed first place in every event?  What if they knew exactly how much she spent on the monthly fan packs? How much she spent on love gems? How her internal clock was based around when her LP would be fully recharged? How ardently she watched and rewatched every single episode of the anime? How she knew every lyric to every song, knew every call and response for every girl in the group, went to almost every live show, had autographs from each and every seiyuu?

It beared repeating: it was an embarrassing secret.

Eli sighed, poking absentmindedly at the Dia Kurosawa figurine. It felt silly, but she really felt a connection to the character. The warm interior hiding behind the cold persona she put on. Her passionate love of school idols, the love she felt she had to keep hidden. The similarities between the two were obvious. Except Dia had had the courage to change, to embrace her interest, no matter how embarrassing.

However, as much as Eli related to Dia, she felt a special connection with another character.

Eli was enamored with Mari Ohara. Her exuberance, her exuberant nature, and the cheerful exterior that hid her true emotions deep down inside. The immense love she had for her friends that was obvious, even though it was hidden behind cloying smiles and teasing.  Even her tendency to get a little too...physical, with the other members of the group, was charming to Eli.

Mari was, in short, the perfect opposite of Eli, who was standoffish and socially awkward, wary of physical affection, and even in her eyes, occasionally a bit too strict and boorish. Nothing like the charming, fun-loving Mari. If Dia was who she was, then Mari was who she wanted to be. Or even who she wanted to...Eli blushed. Stupid. Developing a crush on a fictional character. Surely it was just admiration? She didn’t want to date Mari. She wanted to be more like her. Yes, that was it.

Eli huffed, pushing her chair away from her desk, just in time for the alarm on her phone to start blaring _G Senjou no Cinderella._ Ah. Her LP had finally recharged fully. She immediately rolled herself back to the desk and opened up the app, glad to move her focus from her self-pitying thoughts to her favorite game.

There was a Score Match going on at the moment. The prize? A set of criminally adorable KanaMari SRs, the two girls dressed up in matching wetsuits. While neither seemed as if they’d make the cut on Eli’s main teams, half of the fun of these events was collecting the cards. And Eli was determined to get 3 copies of each, so she could have two of each girl: idolized and unidolized. And to capture her usual first place, of course. And the two would look so good side-by-side in her member box.

Her first order of business: checking her current event ranking. There was only a few of hours left in the event, and she needed to be sure she still held her standing. She navigated to the event ranking menu and smiled seeing her account at the very top, as usual: her UR Yukata Mari smiling at her from the tiny circle next to her account’s nickname: Erichika.

Most people assumed that it was some sort of strange pun on Chika’s name, rather than the subtle reference to her childhood nickname that it actually was. After every ballet recital, there were three constants: Arisa running to give her a big hug, her mother giving a more reserved embrace afterwards, smiling at her and saying in her soft, demure voice: _as expected of the cute and clever Elichika!_ And then Arisa would parrot the phrase in her sing-song voice: _Erichika! Cute and clever Erichika!_

Those were some of her only fond memories from her time as a ballet dancer. She was the least talented girl in her class. It was the cold, hard truth. Last-picked, seldom-praised, and barely managing to score auditions. But none of that seemed to matter when she was onstage, shining, dancing, and especially not when her little sister looked up at her with those bright eyes, chanting: _cute and clever Erichika! Cute and clever Erichika!_ until all of Eli’s disappointment and embarrassment melted away and she started to believe it herself, if even just a little; began to believe that her dream was achievable, that she could one day fully live up to that nickname, a ballet dancer in her own right. Cute and clever.

But those times were over. It was a fond memory; nothing more. She had had to face reality eventually: she wasn’t meant to be a ballet dancer. No amount of “cuteness” or “cleverness” would make up for her objective lack of talent. Her grandmother had shown her as much. She would never shine brightly on stage again. She was more suited to the behind-the-scenes work. As student council president, for example. So what if she couldn’t shine? Couldn’t dance? She didn’t need any of that. It was silly. It was... 

Eli’s grip tightened on her phone, knuckles whitening.

She wasn’t sure why exactly she did it; what the final straw had been. But before she could think too much about it, she tapped until she reached the screen she was looking for. Settings. Nickname. Change Nickname.

She erased the memory, letter by letter.

 _Erichika_ |

 

_Erichik|_

 

_Erichi|_

 

_Erich|_

 

_Eric|_

 

_Eri|_

 

_Er|_

 

_E|_

 

_|_

 

Eli bit her lip. Not thinking too much about it, she typed in a random username.

 

_H|_

 

_Ha|_

 

_Har|_

 

_Hara|_

 

_Haras|_

 

_Harasho|_

 

There. She was pretty certain not many people on the JP servers were part Russian like she was, or spoke the language. Certainly no one seemed to know what she was saying when she muttered the phrase under her breath at school. Just a single word. No painful memories attached to it. It was about time she moved on from that childish nickname. Not even Arisa called her that anymore. Why had she held onto it for so long?

 _Harasho_. It would do.

Eli navigated back to the score ranking screen to see if the name-change had taken effect.

And nearly dropped her phone in shock.

Instead of the usual smiling face of her Mari at the top of the screen, she was greeted a different name.

 _Washiwashi_?

Eli blinked. She’d been ousted from first place? In that short of a time? Usually it took a couple of days of her not playing for someone to even come close to outpacing her…and the strangest part was that she didn’t recognize the username. Usually the same few usernames ended up in the top 3. There was _Elichika_ \- now _Harasho_ \- at number one. Number two was somebody with the username _niconiconii._ ..whatever that meant. Number three: _kayochin_. The other two names had become so familiar to her that Eli often thought of them as rivals of a sort, even though she had never interacted with either of them.

She tapped on the Kanan icon, intrigued and a bit irritated, wanting to know more about this mysterious usurper (she cringed internally at that phrasing - _it’s just a game, Eli, calm down…_ )

 _Washiwashi_ ’s center card popped up on the screen. Ironically enough, it was the UR Kanan Matsuura from the Yukata set; a direct match with Eli’s own Mari center card. Eli hummed in amusement at the coincidence before moving on. 

A cursory glance over _Washiwashi_ ’s profile showed that the player was only rank 100. Eli’s eyes widened at this. It was quite rare for anyone to appear in the top three unless they were at least above rank 150! Eli herself was far beyond that. How had this low-level player snatched first place out from under her nose?

She was so taken aback by this piece of information that she almost - but not quite - didn’t read the player’s description.

And for the next few weeks, she would wish she had forgotten.

_hi erichi ;) better luck next time!_

Eli’s mouth dropped open.

* * *

Eli let out an ear-popping yawn, stretching until her back popped as well.

She had pulled an all-nighter, playing song after song until way after midnight, determined to reclaim her indisputable first place, leaving _Washiwashi_ in the dust. 

And she had done it. But at what cost?

Eli glanced down miserably at the pile of paperwork in front of her. It was still the beginning of the new school year, and as such, she had been swamped with club request forms: either for additional funds, or for the foundation of new clubs entirely. Eli sighed, rubbing her temples. Budgeting for this year would be hard. Even harder on only three hours of sleep.

What had she been thinking? Responding to a meaningless, passive-aggressive taunt from a complete stranger? Over a mobile game, of all things? It was behavior unbecoming of a third year, and even moreso of a student council president. Was she really cut out for this?

It had been a landslide decision. When voting for the student council president came up, Eli had been the unanimous choice. 

Normally, the person with the second most votes would end up being vice-president. But…

Eli surreptitiously glanced over at her vice-president.

Nozomi Toujou - a new student at Otonokizaka High. A transfer student.

* * *

She’d been pulled aside by the principal herself. Mrs. Minami.

“Ayase-san,” she had said. “I have a favor to ask of you. Would you be willing to hear me out?”

“Of course,” Eli had replied, covering her shock with a veneer of confidence. “I will help you to the best of my ability.”

Minami smiled, pleased. “As expected of you, Ayase-san. Now, I don’t know if you’re aware of this - and I apologize for spoiling the surprise - but it seems you are this year’s student council president! As expected.”

Eli covered her delight with a mask of polite and humble acceptance. “It could have been anyone,” she demurred. And it was true. “There were many more capable candidates than just me. But I’m happy to have been chosen. I’ll do my best to represent this school well.”

The principal giggled. “No need to be so formal! But I’m pleased to hear you say so. I have no doubt you’ll make me, and your fellow students, very proud.”

Eli couldn’t help but blush at that. “I...thank you. I’m glad to have your support and trust.”

“And I’m glad to give it,” Minami smiled. “But, like I said, I do have a favor to ask of you in return…”

“Of course,” Eli replied. “What is it that you need, Principal?”

“Minami-san is fine,” she waved away the stuffy title as if it meant nothing to her. “But to get back on topic: I did tell you that you’ve been nominated as student council president. But what I didn’t tell you is that...you were running uncontested.”

Eli’s blood ran cold. “So I won by default,” she whispered.

Minami shook her head. “Oh no, please don’t think of it that way! I was curious about it myself, but from what I hear it’s only because everyone viewed you as the natural choice. Everyone seemed to think you were best suited to the role and were content to let you have it.”

“So they were afraid to run against me,” Eli said bluntly. She’d always been admired by her peers - but from a safe distance. People seemed to be fascinated and terrified of her in equal measure. No wonder no one had run against her - they didn’t want to risk incurring her wrath. Or maybe they were simply content to let the friendless, lone wolf of the class handle all of the workload. It wasn’t as if she had anything else to do. No outings with friends, no clubs, not even ballet anymore.

“I...not exactly…” Principal Minami sighed. “Well, the issue I am attempting to get at here is the problem of the Student Council. I’m sure you are aware of our...dwindling amount of students.”

Eli nodded. “There are only a few students in our grade this year…” It was no secret that Otonokizaka High was always teetering on the edge of closing. That was the reason Eli had wanted to be student council president in the first place: to _do_ something about it. To save her school.

Principal Minami nodded sadly. “It’s a shame. But with so few third years, there’s definitely not enough room, or even enough of a need, for a full student council this year.”

“So it’ll be just me?” Though the workload would be daunting, Eli almost preferred it this way. She worked best alone.

“Well, thats where my favor comes in,” Principal Minami said. “I’ve been speaking with the teachers and we’ve come to the conclusion that, although we can’t spare the space and funds for a full student council this year, it just wouldn’t be right to pile all of the work onto just one person.”

“I appreciate the concern,” Eli said politely. “But I truly don’t mind.”

“Well, I do,” Principal Minami said. Eli blinked in shock at the woman’s bluntness. “I admire your hard working and independent nature, Ayase-san, but you’re only one girl. You’ll need the help,” Principal Minami held up a hand, silencing Eli before she could open her mouth to disagree. “And if you truly feel like you don’t need the help...think of it as you helping someone else.”

Eli was confused at this. “Who would I be helping?”

“Well…” Principal Minami began. “The conclusion the teachers and I came up with is that we would spare the funds and space for not only a student council president, but a vice president as well. The plan was for the girl with the second most votes to fill that position. But since you ran uncontested…”

“There’s no one to fill the position,” Eli finished. “I apologize, but I don’t understand...what exactly do I need to do?”

“Well...the plan is for you to nominate someone as your vice president.”

Eli blanched. She’d never spoken to anyone in her class beyond slight pleasantries. Who would she even pick? And since no one wanted to serve on the Council this year except her anyway, wouldn’t whoever she chose resent her for piling work off of herself onto them?

Principal Minami laughed at the clearly horrified look on Eli’s face. “Let me finish before you start panicking, Ayase-san,” she said fondly. “The favor I want to ask you is this: we have a new transfer student coming today. Nozomi Toujou. I would like for you to nominate her as your vice president.”

Eli blinked in stunned silence at her for what felt like an eternity.

“Wait...you want me to _what?!_ ”

 

* * *

 

“Um. Ayase-san?”

Eli snapped to attention, pulled from her drowsy recollections back into the present day. When she looked up, she saw Toujou-san standing in front of her with a sheet in her hand, shuffling her feet nervously.

Eli sighed. “I apologize, Toujou-san. I must have been lost in thought. Was there something you wanted?”

She gave a small, nervous smile. “Oh, um, it’s nothing, really. I just wanted to ask you about this…?” She handed Eli a sheet of paper.

Eli took it, blinking drowsily until the words unblurred and she could read it properly. A request for club funds…

“Idol Research Club…” she muttered under her breath. “Members...Yazawa Nico, third year. Requested amount...4000 yen?”

Nozomi nodded. “I already apologized to her and told her we don’t have the money to spare. But I was just curious...why is there only one member in the club? I’m not super familiar with the school’s policies yet...but I thought clubs had to have at least five members?”

Eli leaned back in her chair. “I don’t know very much about it,” Eli admitted. “All I know is what the principal told me: that there were five members when the club was founded, so it doesn’t need to be disbanded.”

Nozomi nodded, sitting back in her chair across from Eli. “I see…” she said. “Poor Nicocchi…”

Eli blinked. “Nicocchi?”

“Yazawa-san,” Nozomi corrected herself, flushing slightly. “I don’t mean to be overly familiar with her. I just. Feel sorry for her, ya know? Being the only member in her club. It sounds...lonely.” Nozomi’s eyes were soft, filled with sympathy for a girl she didn’t even know.

Eli looked away. “I suppose so,” she murmured.

She had seen the shorter girl several times around campus, a determined gleam in her bright red eyes, handing out fliers to students. Students who didn’t even wait until they were out of Nico’s eyesight to ball up the fliers and toss them into the trash.

She’d even walked by the Idol Research Club Room a couple of times. It seemed like if Nico wasn’t in class, that was where she was. Studying, eating lunch, fastidiously cleaning every inch of the room every day after school.

Always alone.

 _She looks like she needs a friend,_ Eli would think. And then she would walk away. Too cowardly to try and be that person.

“She looks like she needs a friend,” Nozomi whispered.

Eli looked up, startled.

The other girl must have misunderstood the look on Eli’s face, because she flushed bright pink and stammered out an apology.

“S-Sorry...I didn’t mean to bother you with this. I’m sure you have other things to worry about. Being the president and all.”

Eli shook her head, looking away. It hurt a little that Nozomi would think Eli didn’t care at all about Yazawa-san’s predicament. But then again, wasn’t she right? It wasn’t as if Eli had done anything to help the other girl. All she had done was watch her with pity, never once reaching out her hand to help.

“Don’t worry about it,” she mumbled. She glanced at the empty table in front of Nozomi. “You’ve finished your work for the day, right? You can leave.”

Nozomi’s mouth opened, as if she wanted to offer to stay longer, but she seemed to think better of it, sensing she had upset Eli somehow. “If you’re sure you don’t need any more help.”

“I’m sure,” Eli said bluntly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Toujou-san.”

Nozomi gave a shaky bow. “O-Of course. See you tomorrow...Elicchi.”

Eli jolted in shock, but before she could ask Nozomi about the nickname, the other girl had already left the room.

Eli sighed, leaning back in her chair.

“Elicchi, huh…”

Eli decided to call it a day, stacking the rest of her paperwork in a pile for tomorrow.

Until she got to the paper for the Idol Research Club. She drummed her fingers on the paper, sighing.

“ _Harasho_ ,” she sighed to herself, and pulled two 2,000 yen notes from her wallet, paperclipping them to the sheet. She’d drop by the Idol Research club room later - preferably when Yazawa-san wasn’t there - and leave it there.

Before she left, she glanced at the seat that had just been occupied by her vice-president. It was still pushed out. If she concentrated, she could almost see the other girl sitting there right now; glancing down at some form with a furrowed brow, nervously glancing at Eli every once in awhile as if she were a ticking time bomb, ready to go off any moment.

“I hope Principal Minami knows what she’s doing,” Eli sighed, and turned off the lights.  


* * *

 

“Why Toujou-san?” Eli had questioned. “If she’s a new student, won’t having so much responsibility be overwhelming?”

Principal Minami just laughed. “It really won’t be terribly much...and I get the feeling you’ll be taking on most of the work anyway regardless. But...I think Toujou-san will really benefit from your guidance.”

“My guidance?”

Principal Minami hummed. “And I think you would benefit from hers.”

Eli frowned at that. “I don’t understand,” she admitted. “Guidance? What kind of guidance…?”

Principal Minami laughed. “Oh, don’t mind me. What I’m trying to say is...I think Toujou-san would benefit from the structure and responsibility that a Student Council Vice President entails. And I think you’ll find that she’ll be a great help to you. From what I hear, she’s a smart, conscientious young lady. She’ll be perfect. And who better to show a new student around than the student council president herself?”

Eli just nodded, not convinced. “If that’s what you think is best,” she said uncertainly. “I will do as you ask.”

“Good!” Principal Minami clapped her hands together in delight.

“But...what if Toujou-san doesn’t want the position? What if she says no?”

Principal Minami smiled enigmatically. “If it’s you asking, Ayase-san, I get the feeling she’ll say yes.”

And with that last, confusing note, the deal was sealed.

Nozomi Toujou, whoever she might be, was now the student council vice president.


End file.
